I recommend working with Tarot Cards (intuition tools) that both motivate and inspire you. After all, you get to choose your cards. And like choosing friends, you want to pick ones that help and support you on your life path in a positive way.

Here’s a list of my favorite Tarot Decks, in no particular order:

1. Motherpeace Tarot Cards-by Karen Vogel and Vicki Noble

A good everyday deck, and good for learning the tarot with. Motherpeace cards are round and enable the Reader to provide a very holistic/earthy and precise vision of what’s going on. This is the deck I learned on, and the deck I use the most for Readings for myself and others.

2. Osho Zen Tarot-by Osho

A good everyday deck, and good for learning the tarot with. The Osho cards offer a Zen Buddhist perspective that I find to be very helpful when I’m looking for a deeper introspective understanding. The card images on this deck tell a story.

3. Tarot of the Four Elements-by Isha Lerner

A good everyday deck, and good for learning the tarot with. This deck is so colorful and vibrates life. This deck really gives the 4 elements of the minor arcana a voice.

4. Vibrational Healing Cards-by Rowena Pattee Kryder

I’ve had this deck a long time. Though you can create spreads with it, I use it for one card meditative readings and or as single root cards to support full Readings with other cards. The lessons of these cards are energy lessons. These cards go beyond the paradigm of major and minor arcana cards. They present profoundly deep lessons for spiritual growth and evolution.

5. Cosmic Deck of Initiation-by Barbara M. Delong

I’ve also used this deck for a long time. Though you can create spreads with it, I use it for one card meditative readings and or as single root cards to support full Readings with other cards. These cards are round and offer lessons that include titles like: Universal Healing, Law of Cause and Effect, Healer Within, Sower of Seeds…

6. Medicine Cards-by Jamie Sams, David Carson, and Angela C. Werneke

A favorite deck of mine. I use this deck for spreads and one card Readings. The images connect you to the lessons of North American Animals. The book that comes with this deck is so helpful in that it explains the animal lessons with text, verse, and stories carried down by oral tradition.

7. The Kabbalah Deck-by Edward Hoffman

This deck and the book that comes with it introduced me to the meaning of Hebrew Letters. I use this deck for spreads and one card meditation Readings when I’m in need of deeply introspective/esoteric information.

8. Goddess Tarot-by Kris Waldherr

This deck is beautifully rendered and teaches female wisdom from many cultures. It can be used for spreads, one card meditations, and for learning tarot.

9. Medicine Woman Tarot-by Carol Bridges

A down to earth deck good for spreads and one card Readings. This deck would also be good to learn tarot with. The card images present a good balance between male and female energy.

10. Mana Cards: The Power of Hawaiian Wisdom-by Catherine Becker

This deck was given to me as a gift when I was on the Big Island. The cards carry the stories of indigenous Hawaiian lessons. I use this deck for spreads and one card Readings.

11. Tao Oracle: Ma Deva Padma

These cards express their wisdom through I Ching symbolism and artwork. They are beautifully made with warm and nurturing images and come with a companion book that explains the I Ching symbols and the imagery on each card. They do not contain major or minor arcana. I use them for one card Readings, and sometimes for full spreads. The only thing I don’t like about these cards is that the card stock is fairly thick and a bit awkward to handle.

12. The Oracle of Kabbalah: Richard Seidman

This deck teaches lessons based on the letters of the hebrew alphabet (aleph beit). Each card depicts one letter. The book is well organized and clearly written giving full explanations of the letters, a synopsis of their meanings, and personal anecdotes helping readers to use and understanding each letter’s story. I use these cards for one card Readings and spreads.

13. Tarot of Trees: Dana Driscoll

What a sweet deck! The creator of these cards has managed to create a full major and minor arcana tarot deck with trees as the main characters. A student introduced me to this deck and I enjoyed teaching them to her. They come with a complete book and can be used for full spreads and one card Readings. The cards are small and easy to handle.

14. The I Ching:

I love the I Ching. This system seems to help me when I’m looking for insight about how to respond to something I’m experiencing.

Buy the I Ching Book of Changes translated by Wilhelm/Baynes and throw coins or…

Learn to do the long version of I Ching with yarrow sticks. For this I recommend The I Ching Workbook Gift Set: The I Ching Workbook + 50 Yarrow Stalks-by Wu Wei. This set has everything you need and really clear directions.

If you are interested in developing your Intuition, I offer one on one Intuition Tarot Classes in the San Francisco Bay Area, and over the telephone. Classes are open to beginning to experienced students of all ages. Contact me @ 415/267-3970 for sign-up information.

In 1989 when I first moved to San Francisco to complete my college studies in creative writing and education, I felt a strong calling to support my Intuition. I was immersed in assignments from school, yet something deeper was urging me to broaden my scope. I found myself delving into the oral tradition, creation and cautionary stories passed on through the ages to protect us. I started looking at symbols and the lessons they taught. It wasn’t long before I found myself with my first Tarot Deck. I chose the Motherpeace cards (see my blog about choosing your first deck below).

I tried to find the oldest stories from as many parts of the world as I could. I wanted to learn the lessons of the ones who lived before me. I looked at the symbols they wove into their cloths, marked onto their bodies, crafted into their pottery, carved into stones, painted onto cave walls. I listened to sacred music, the songs they sang and watched ceremonial dances. I listened to the prayers and mantras that comforted them. And all of it started to come together as survival stories, nature’s stories. Zig-zag patterns represented water, crosses signified the 4 directions, circles meant creation, spirals indicated growth, Z shapes symbolized lightning.

As I began to take in the messages and symbols on my Tarot cards I realized that they were a continuation of the ancient stories, still speaking through imagery and symbols. The major arcana cards represented universal life patterns that are still relevant…and evolving. The minor arcana cards showed me manifested patterns and connected me to everyday life.

As I spent time with the images and symbols on my cards, the stories they told came alive. There was a movement in each card, and card spreads could show me vivid stories with beginnings, middles, and ends.

The cards showed me the stories and my Intuition completed and confirmed them. The cards prompted me to recognize what my Intuition knew without them. They attuned me to the cycles and patterns I was experiencing.

Now, 20 years later as I teach Intuition Studies, I can say that what we’re learning really is to trust what we already know. Symbolism is a reference that points to life patterns. But truly it’s Life who is our greatest teacher.